Jane Kenyon's "Mosaic of the Nativity, Serbia, Winter 1993"

The Daily Poem

Goldberry Studios

Education For Kids, Arts, Kids & Family

4.6 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 7 December 2020

⏱️ 6 minutes

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Summary

Biography via Enclopedia.com: Poet Jane Kenyon was noted for creating verse that probes the inner psyche, particularly demons of depression such as those that plagued her throughout much of her adult life. Kenyon was not a prolific writer, publishing just four volumes of poetry in her lifetime: From Room to Room, The Boat of Quiet Hours, Let Evening Come, and Constance. Although her output was limited, her work is notable for its power and precision.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the Daily Poem. I am David Kern, and today is Monday, December 7, 2020.
0:07.2	Today's poem is by Jane Kenyon. She was an American poet who lived from 1947 to 1995.
0:14.9	You've heard from her a time or two on this podcast, and the poem that I'm going to read today is called Mosaic of the Nativity, Serbia,
0:22.9	Winter, 1993. As I mentioned, this month we're going to have a series of primarily holiday,
0:31.0	Advent, Christmas-themed poems, and this fits the bill in that category. So here it is.
0:38.2	Jane Kenyon's Mosaic of the Nativity, Serbia, Winter, 1993.
0:47.4	On the domed ceiling, God is thinking.
0:53.7	I made them my joy, and to everything else I created I made to bless them.
0:59.0	But see what they do?
1:01.0	I know their hearts and their arguments.
1:05.0	We're descended from Cain.
1:08.0	Evil is nothing new.
1:10.0	So what does it matter now? We shell the infirmary in the
1:12.5	well where the fearful and rash alike must come for water. God thinks Mary into being.
1:21.6	Suspended at the apogee of the golden dome, she curls in a brown pod, and inside her her the mind of Christ, cloaked in blood, lodges,
1:32.5	and begins to grow.
1:42.2	If you can, I recommend you look this poem up.
1:45.3	Just Google it.
1:45.8	Poets.org has a ethnic poetry foundation as well.
1:49.2	Because this is one of those poems that has a series of changing perspectives.
1:54.1	We have bracketing the poem, the perspective of the poet, who is inside this church in Serbia.
2:00.7	And of course, if you know anything about
	...

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